1 00:00:01,933 --> 00:00:04,900 JUDY WOODRUFF: We're now just days away from the final elections of the 2020 campaign, 2 00:00:04,900 --> 00:00:09,633 two critical run-offs in Georgia that will determine control of the U.S. Senate. 3 00:00:09,633 --> 00:00:13,766 Today is the final day of in person early voting in the state, 4 00:00:13,766 --> 00:00:17,633 and more than 2.8 million people have cast ballots so far. 5 00:00:17,633 --> 00:00:22,633 For an update on what's at stake, I'm joined by Stephen Fowler. He is a political reporter for 6 00:00:24,833 --> 00:00:27,733 Georgia Public Broadcasting. He's also host of the "Battleground: Ballot Box" podcast. 7 00:00:28,900 --> 00:00:31,933 Stephen Fowler, welcome to the "NewsHour." 8 00:00:31,933 --> 00:00:36,933 I guess the news today is that Senator David Perdue is quarantining after being exposed to 9 00:00:38,533 --> 00:00:42,200 COVID. Where does that leave this contest? 10 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:45,266 STEPHEN FOWLER, Georgia Public Broadcasting: For the last several weeks, really, all of the 11 00:00:45,266 --> 00:00:50,233 candidates have been crisscrossing Georgia, trying to squeeze out every vote that they can get. 12 00:00:52,233 --> 00:00:54,933 And David Perdue announced today that he -- one of his campaign staffers 13 00:00:54,933 --> 00:00:59,566 tested positive for COVID-19. He and his wife both tested negative today, 14 00:00:59,566 --> 00:01:03,133 but, out of an abundance of caution, they are going to be quarantining. 15 00:01:03,133 --> 00:01:08,133 Now, the last day of early voting is today, and the next big day is Tuesday, January 5. 16 00:01:10,166 --> 00:01:14,133 But the night before, Perdue and Senator Kelly Loeffler are supposed to headline at a big 17 00:01:16,133 --> 00:01:18,900 get-out-the-vote rally in Northwest Georgia headlined by President Donald Trump. 18 00:01:18,900 --> 00:01:23,233 It's unclear at this time whether David Perdue will be in attendance, 19 00:01:23,233 --> 00:01:28,233 but it's definitely something that you don't want to have happen days before the biggest election. 20 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:31,366 JUDY WOODRUFF: No question, a complicating factor. 21 00:01:33,300 --> 00:01:37,033 President Trump, he has been critical of the governor of the state and others 22 00:01:38,500 --> 00:01:42,066 who didn't want to challenge the victory of Joe Biden in Georgia. 23 00:01:44,033 --> 00:01:48,366 The two senators -- it's put the two senators, you were telling us, in very much of a box. 24 00:01:49,833 --> 00:01:51,066 How is that working? The president's been tweeting 25 00:01:53,100 --> 00:01:56,700 about Georgia. How do you see the president's role right now in this race? 26 00:01:56,700 --> 00:02:01,233 STEPHEN FOWLER: President Trump has put Perdue and Loeffler between a rock and a hard place. 27 00:02:01,233 --> 00:02:05,300 On the one hand, you have President Trump attacking Georgia's elections, 28 00:02:05,300 --> 00:02:09,533 attacking the Republican governor, the Republican secretary of state, and claiming 29 00:02:09,533 --> 00:02:14,533 that the election was rigged and there was fraud and that people shouldn't trust the outcome. 30 00:02:16,466 --> 00:02:19,966 On the other hand, you have plenty of voters that are turned off by that kind of rhetoric 31 00:02:21,333 --> 00:02:23,933 and are saying that they're going to stay home and 32 00:02:23,933 --> 00:02:27,633 that they're not going to participate in this election or they're going to vote 33 00:02:27,633 --> 00:02:32,333 for the Democrats because the Democrats aren't trying to undermine democracy. 34 00:02:32,333 --> 00:02:34,500 So, Perdue and Loeffler have been trying to 35 00:02:36,366 --> 00:02:38,733 make sure that they capture enough of Georgia's Republican base in this run-off 36 00:02:38,733 --> 00:02:43,466 by siding with the president and calling for our secretary of state to resign, 37 00:02:43,466 --> 00:02:48,466 but, at the same time, they have to try to remember that Georgia is a very, very purple state 38 00:02:50,500 --> 00:02:54,366 right now, and they can't turn off those moderates by making false claims of election fraud. 39 00:02:56,433 --> 00:02:57,933 JUDY WOODRUFF: And we have been reading about concern among Republicans about 40 00:02:57,933 --> 00:03:01,766 what the president's going to say when he is in Georgia. 41 00:03:01,766 --> 00:03:05,766 But let's talk about the Democrats today. Big turnout, 42 00:03:07,300 --> 00:03:10,033 we have seen throughout the early voting period right up through 43 00:03:12,433 --> 00:03:15,733 today. What does that tell you in terms of these long lines, Stephen Fowler, and where they are? 44 00:03:17,866 --> 00:03:20,833 STEPHEN FOWLER: Well, Judy, there are three key constituencies to watch for in Georgia. 45 00:03:20,833 --> 00:03:25,833 One is what you're seeing right now in suburban Atlanta. Those are the voters that 46 00:03:27,833 --> 00:03:31,733 voted for Joe Biden in the presidential race that may end up still voting for Democrats 47 00:03:34,133 --> 00:03:37,500 Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in this election. And Metro Atlanta is turning outs in full force. 48 00:03:38,933 --> 00:03:42,033 Another one to watch is down in Southwest Georgia, 49 00:03:42,033 --> 00:03:45,866 the Black Belt of Georgia, where there's a large African American Democratic population. 50 00:03:47,900 --> 00:03:51,500 They have been turning out in force as well, coming very close to the general election levels. 51 00:03:53,433 --> 00:03:56,666 In fact, some of the early voting data that I have looked at suggests that there are about 52 00:03:59,100 --> 00:04:02,466 3 percent of the electorate is higher -- there's about 3 percent more African American percentage 53 00:04:04,466 --> 00:04:09,266 of voters in this election than in the general election, which is a good sign for Democrats. 54 00:04:11,833 --> 00:04:15,033 And the final one is up in Northwest Georgia, the Republican base, where turnout is lagging behind, 55 00:04:17,566 --> 00:04:21,166 and Republicans hope that a big Election Day surge can counteract this huge Democratic early vote. 56 00:04:23,100 --> 00:04:24,800 JUDY WOODRUFF: And that's a challenge without President Trump on the ballot. 57 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:27,366 STEPHEN FOWLER: That's right, without President Trump on the ballot, and 58 00:04:27,366 --> 00:04:32,366 with President Trump saying don't trust absentee-by-mail voting or Georgia's election 59 00:04:34,233 --> 00:04:36,133 system and the voting machines, which are, frankly, the only two ways to vote. 60 00:04:36,133 --> 00:04:40,933 JUDY WOODRUFF: That coupled, as you say, with the remarkable turnout in communities 61 00:04:42,833 --> 00:04:46,633 where Black voters are turning out in large numbers is something everybody's watching. 62 00:04:48,733 --> 00:04:51,466 But, very quickly, Stephen Fowler, to what 63 00:04:51,466 --> 00:04:56,466 the candidates are saying. We have seen the Republican candidates going after the Democrats, 64 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:00,533 calling them radical liberals. And we're seeing the Democrats push back. 65 00:05:00,533 --> 00:05:04,500 Let's just listen to a short clip of each one, of each side. 66 00:05:04,500 --> 00:05:07,300 SEN. KELLY LOEFFLER (R-GA): Radical liberal Raphael Warnock. 67 00:05:07,300 --> 00:05:09,466 Radical liberal Raphael Warnock. 68 00:05:09,466 --> 00:05:11,466 Radical liberal Raphael Warnock. 69 00:05:11,466 --> 00:05:13,466 From radical liberal Raphael Warnock. 70 00:05:13,466 --> 00:05:16,566 JON OSSOFF (D), Georgia Senatorial Candidate: Hear's the bottom line, Kelly Loeffler 71 00:05:16,566 --> 00:05:21,566 has been campaigning with a Klansman. Kelly Loeffler has been campaigning with a Klansman. 72 00:05:24,666 --> 00:05:29,666 And so she is stooping to these vicious personal attacks to distract from the 73 00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:34,100 fact that she has been campaigning with a former member of the Ku Klux Klan. 74 00:05:34,100 --> 00:05:37,633 JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Stephen Fowler, that comment yesterday from Jon Ossoff, 75 00:05:37,633 --> 00:05:41,866 who, of course, is running against David Perdue. The Kelly Loeffler 76 00:05:43,433 --> 00:05:47,633 comments which we put together were from a debate a few weeks ago. 77 00:05:47,633 --> 00:05:51,866 But it gives you a sense of the flavor of this contest. 78 00:05:51,866 --> 00:05:56,866 STEPHEN FOWLER: The key to trying to define the opposition from both Democrats and Republicans 79 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:00,166 is these short-and-sweet phrases. 80 00:06:00,166 --> 00:06:03,933 In the one debate David Perdue did conduct with Jon Ossoff, 81 00:06:03,933 --> 00:06:08,100 he kept calling him and his radical socialist tendencies over and over again. 82 00:06:10,133 --> 00:06:13,666 So the Republicans are trying to paint Ossoff and Warnock as these two extremely liberal, 83 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:17,533 radical, out-of-touch politicians that aren't good for Georgia. 84 00:06:17,533 --> 00:06:21,233 And Ossoff and Warnock are trying to paint Perdue and Loeffler 85 00:06:21,233 --> 00:06:26,233 as crooks who don't have Georgia's best interests at heart and are out of touch with reality. 86 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:31,666 So, the key message also that we're seeing there are really resonating on both sides 87 00:06:33,700 --> 00:06:36,433 with this turnout that we're seeing and with the closing messages of this campaign. 88 00:06:36,433 --> 00:06:40,433 JUDY WOODRUFF: You were telling us, Stephen Fowler, I mean, this is a state, of course, 89 00:06:40,433 --> 00:06:45,433 Georgia has voted red, has sent mostly Republicans to Washington. 90 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:48,566 So, for the Democrats to be holding their own 91 00:06:50,533 --> 00:06:53,233 at this point is somewhat remarkable in the state of Georgia, isn't it?? 92 00:06:53,233 --> 00:06:55,233 STEPHEN FOWLER: Well, to the outsiders, perhaps, 93 00:06:55,233 --> 00:06:59,700 but, in Georgia, for the last two years, it's been something building. 94 00:06:59,700 --> 00:07:02,966 The demographics of Georgia have changed in the last decade .There have been 95 00:07:04,966 --> 00:07:08,766 a million so voters that have come in Metro Atlanta alone, two million in the state overall. 96 00:07:10,766 --> 00:07:15,166 And in the 2018 governor's race, where Stacey Abrams narrowly lost to Brian Kemp, 97 00:07:17,100 --> 00:07:20,633 the Democrats invested in parts of the state that didn't normally get a lot of attention. 98 00:07:22,433 --> 00:07:24,566 And they put grassroots campaigns and door-knocking and canvassing, 99 00:07:24,566 --> 00:07:29,566 and slowly started to eat into the margins there, while ramping up operations in Metro Atlanta. 100 00:07:31,966 --> 00:07:35,433 And that's only built up for the last two years, where you have got a competitive infrastructure, 101 00:07:36,866 --> 00:07:40,033 and you have got Democrats showing up in force, and 102 00:07:40,033 --> 00:07:45,033 ultimately putting about 12,000 votes ahead to give Joe Biden the electoral votes. 103 00:07:46,933 --> 00:07:50,366 JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, it is a race, two races that the nation is watching very closely. 104 00:07:52,366 --> 00:07:56,100 Stephen Fowler with Georgia Public Broadcasting, thank you so much. And happy new year. 105 00:07:56,100 --> 00:07:57,866 STEPHEN FOWLER: Thank you.